Doors

We are fascinated by apartment doors.  We have seen no evidence of burglary, but then how would a burglar get past all of the doors?

Wayne coming out of our apartment.

We call this "Cell Block 4"

The bottom on the stairs - another metal door before the street.

Entry way to the stairs.  Last night we found a full on motorcycle parked here.

The street side of the apartment building.

Our apartment is on the fourth floor, just below the pretty grill work and just above the pretty plants.  We don't have a balcony on this side of the apartment.  The air conditioner on the right is our livingroom and the one on the left is our bedroom.

Young Single Adults

They had a Family Home Evening the second Monday in July and this time, I brought my camera.  There weren't nearly as many kids as there were last month, but everyone had fun.  These pictures are of the big group activity.  We were amazed at how patient they are.  They were asked to get into lines according to "family group" and then be boy - girl - boy - girl.  It took about 10 minutes to pull that off.  Meanwhile, they stood patiently and waited.  This was a relay race.  Remember we don't speak Chinese, so we didn't know what they were doing until later.  Each person, had to pass a number to the next person in line.  The numbers were long - like a telephone number (including the area code)  They couldn't use anything but their faces and heads.  There were a lot of blinking, winking, tongue waggles, head bobs.  It was hilarious.  The young man at the lecturn was so funny, they asked him to do it for the entire group (which is when we caught on to what was happening)

Click on this one to blow it up.  His eyes are way up!

More Whatsis!

These are called Mountain Apples.  A vendor cut one and gave us a taste.  They taste like apple and are delicious.  We haven't bought any because they are twice as expensive as the Fuji's we've been eating

We're going to have to buy one of these just to find out what it is.  I photographed it at a fruit stand, so I assume it is fruit. 

We pass by the Sun Merry bakery morning and night and they have these "pineapple pies advertised.  They come in a pretty little box.  We bought one and found 12 little "pies".  It is actually a little cake with a pineapple filling in the middle.  We were very disappointed - but we are eating them anyway.

 

Whatsis

Our Mandarin teacher has asked us to learn 2 sentences every day and to use them.  Today is shopping day and my sentences are:

Nin jiao zhege shenma?  What do you call this? and

Zhege jian yao duoshao qian?  This thing requires how much money?

My next questions will be: 

"Is it fruit or vegetable?" 

"Do I cook it or eat it raw?"

These are sold at the open air market just a block from our apartment. 

 

This is eggplant.  Since we like eggplant, we will probably try some.  However, we don't have an oven.  All we have is a little toaster oven.  It isn't big enough to do much other than toasting bread.

 

 

They call this guava but it isn't like any guava we know.  They must be in season because Wu Mama (who gives the office gifts from time to time) gave us a bag full.  We brought them home and cut one open.  It is fruit.  It has seeds in the middle which Wayne immediately put into his mouth.  He says the center is tasty but the seeds are too hard to eat.  We both ate some.  It tastes a little like an apple, but if you love apples, it is very disappointing.  The texture is between an apple and a pear.  It has the grainy pear feel.  We decided to give these away.  They are wasted on us.

 

 

 

Little Problems

I took these pictures to work and had Elder Tang tell me what each meant.  We wrote on the picture and keep it by the air conditioner remotes.  The washer, I only use one cycle 99% of the time anyway, so when I got that figured out, I was in business!

Back on line

I'm back - June 23 - my toolbar for blogger is in Chinese and I can't get it to speak English.  That has been part of my problem with this blog.  This morning, I decided to do what I've seen my 7th grade students do.  I just pushed buttons until the log-in menu popped up.  I still don't recognize the symbols, but I know now where it is on the page!   Hoo Hoo!

Rain - I tried to get a picture of the torrents coming down.

This is where we cross the street to go to work.  We call it the 2 minute light

These are ducks for sale.

Since there are no yards, people have pots everywhere.  This is a typical doorstep outside of a gift shop.

We walk by this shop every day.  The clothes are expensive designer clothes.  Can't afford them.

This is one of my favorite gift shops.  I haven't been inside yet, but look at all the fun stuff.

Pizza place outside the office.  This man has a pet parrot.

This is mango shaved ice.  There is mango on the bottom, shaved snow (ice and frozen milk) mango on top and orbet on top of that.  This is yummy beyond belief.

This is amazing.  This wall has a rack that holds 6" square plastic flower pots (the kind you get at the nursery)  We've seen several of these.  This one is on our block.  

TheTaiwan Taipei Temple and Service Center

 

The Taiwan Taipei Temple

I think it is one of the smallest temples - surely the smallest one I have been in.

The Spire with Moroni is free-standing and faces west.

These pictures were taken from the roof of the office building.  The view is pretty spectacular.  The skyline is modern.  The clouds are a fixture.  It rains all the time.

President and Sister Day took us up on the roof where there is a modest garden.

This is the courtyard between the Temple and the Service Center.  The Service Center has 3 basements and four floors.  It is possible to add 6 more floors without worrying about the foundation.  The Service Center has offices for finances, visas, humanitarian/welfare, family history, translation and other stuff.  It is all on the 3rd and 4th floors.  The first and second floors are chapels, classrooms, cultural halls.  The foyer on the first floor doubles as a visitors center and sisters are assigned there to lead tours and answer questions.